Kevin "Blunoz" S.'s Profile

I think most DQs would get an A-OK (3 star) rating in my book.  This one was below average.  I say that based on the following:

- No wait / no line / no abundance of customers.
- Over-abundance of employees meandering around with nothing better to do.
- Blizzard made in a hurry and not thoroughly mixed.  I ordered a mint oreo blizzard and what I received had very distinct white parts of plain vanilla and still visible green gel that hadn't been mixed in.  
- Blizzard set down on the counter in a hurry so the employee could move on to doing something else.  The employee didn't do the traditional DQ hold-the-blizzard-upside-down as they hand it to you.  Actually, that may be a good thing - some of the unmixed green gel stuff would've fallen out.

It's Olive Garden.  It's a national chain.  Not much different or unexpected here.

While I prefer to seek out more local non-chain restaurants, my family loves Olive Garden, and at least they have COKE! :-)  Yes, I'm a coke addict, and all the local family-run restaurants on the peninsula ALL serve Pepsi.  If you want coke, you have to go to one of the national chain restaurants that has a contract with the Coca-Cola company.

Plan ahead.  You'll need 20 minutes to find a parking spot on top of 20 minutes to wait for a table.  The parking lot is VERY small and doesn't even leave room for you to turn around very easily when you get to the end of the aisle and discover there aren't any spots and you need to back out.  We figured we had to try the place since it's been open for a few weeks and the parking lot seems pretty busy every evening we happen to drive by.  

It's a typical sports-bar type of fare.  Burgers.  Sandwiches.  Salads & Soups.  Bar food - nachos, onion rings, etc.  Thumbs up for the happy hour prices.  Good selection of beer.  Heavy advertising / bragging that they serve the beer at 34 degrees - how American.  Even so, I had the Koko Brown and it was pretty good.

The waiter gave me hope with his claim the burgers were "fresh not frozen."  The menu gave me hope with words something like "our own guacamole."  I ordered the guacamole burger.  It was fine, but the guacamole was the typical processed green runny stuff you find in chain restaurants located far from the Mexican border.  Their potato chips are pretty good.  Fries were meh.  

They REALLY believe in the power of mayonnaise.  Seriously, they must own stock in Hellman's.  I think the sauce they brought with our onion rings was ketchup mixed with mayo.  My wife's BLT had mayo lathered thick on the bread and an extra cup of mayo on the side.  I'm glad I noticed the "mayo" listed on the menu for the guacamole burger and asked them to hold the mayo.  

They have various flavors of lemonade (raspberry, strawberry, etc) and free refills - thumbs-up.  We asked for "lemonade" for my two sons and received limeade and strawberry lemonade and had to keep asking for the lemonade that they wanted - thumbs-down.  Also, like just about every other restaurant in Kitsap they serve Pepsi - thumbs-down (good thing I was drinking beer and my wife was driving).  Also, the servers are pretty eager to please.  My wife finished a glass of raspberry lemonade and in the bat of an eyelash our waiter was standing there asking if she would like a refill.  I don't think she had finished the "z" in "yes, please" before he was gone to get her some more, and two flaps of a hummingbird's wings later, another server walking by our table asked if she wanted a refill.  In less time than it took her to say, "No thanks, our waiter is already getting one," to the second server, yet another third server stopped to ask if she wanted a refill.  Seriously?  She basically had to put down her sandwich and wait until her lemonade refill came because she couldn't take a bite of her sandwich otherwise.  

All-in-all, it wasn't bad.  The food was okay, the service was alright, and the happy hour prices were very reasonable.  I'm not sure it would be worth the fight for a parking spot or wait for a table if there was a long wait, but if I was passing by and there was an open parking spot, I might be willing to go back and try it again.  Oh, I was surprised to see they serve breakfast here, so we may have to come back and try that.

Shari's is A-OK.  No real complaints.  We've been there twice when we had a craving for a big breakfast.  It's a big chain restaurant.  Nicer than a Denny's or an IHOP I think.  Friendly service and decent prices.  Atmosphere similar to any other national chain restaurant.

I grew up in San Diego, so Mexican food is a staple in my diet (if you can call it that).  Moving here to the Kitsap peninsula, I was surprised to find a veritable plethora of Mexican restaurants to choose from.  I've tried almost all of them, and I've sorta narrowed it down to two that I frequent.  The rest of my family has come around to Los Cabos being our "regular" Mexican place.  I like their chips and salsa, and I like that they serve bean dip with some pico de gallo.  They have good mole chicken enchiladas, good carnitas, good..  well...  I haven't had a bad meal here.

Service here is average.  Prompt and polite.  Not usually anything to complain about, but nothing to rave about either.  On our last visit there, they got two of our orders wrong, but the waiter was very apologetic and had them fixed.  

Prices are reasonable for the quantity and quality of food provided.  The portion sizes are decent but not ginormous.  Not like some places you can count on having two meals (one at the restaurant and one for leftovers the next day).  I usually finish my plate of food, but I leave with a full belly (see earlier reference to "diet").

As with most local places, they are under the strong-arm of the Pepsi monopoly all across the peninsula.

My family loves this place.  There are half a dozen or so flavors of soft-serve style frozen yogurt to choose from, then a couple of dozen different toppings to choose from.  You dish it all up yourself and put it on the scale, and you pay by weight.

I normally like to put just a little bit of fro-yo in the bottom of my cup, then put the toppings in the middle, then put more fro-yo on top.  That way I'm not constantly fighting the avalanche of toppings trying to fall off the top of my towering cup of frozen tasty goodness.

It's Cold Stone.  No complaints here.  It's A-OK.

My family and I LOVE Ivar's.  We live on the Kitsap peninsula, but we've gone so far as to get on the ferry, ride over to Seattle, eat dinner at Ivar's, then get on the ferry back to Kitsap again.

This is a very nice restaurant - upscale atmosphere (and prices), and the food is absolutely exquisite.  Service is cordial, polite, and prompt, although somewhat impersonal.  I suppose in a restaurant as big as this and as popular as this, the servers never see or recognize the same family twice, so you don't get the personal connection you might at smaller ma & pa type neighborhood restaurants.  All that being said, we still love Ivar's for the very nice atmosphere, excellent food, and decent service.  

My kids love it, too.  They provide a kids' menu on a paper scuba diver mask, and we usually walk out of the restaurant with both of my boys wearing their paper scuba masks.

Friends of ours have told us the really like the Taco Time in Poulsbo, so when this new Taco Time opened up in Silverdale we decided to give it a try.  It seems odd with so many local ma & pa Mexican restaurants, plus TWO national fast-food chains on the SAME STREET (Taco Bell and Tacos del Mar) that anyone in their right mind would think they could successfully open ANOTHER fast-food Mexican restaurant at this location.  Time will tell.

Overall, no big complaints.  Food was decent.  Prices and quantities were as-expected for any other fast-food chain.  Service was prompt and friendly.  Nothing about my experience here jumped out at being any better or worse than Taco Bell (next door) or Tacos del Mar (just down the street).

I will give them two thumbs up for having COKE products though.  Most places in Kitsap are under a Pepsi-Starbucks strangle-hold.

Pips Bagels is OK.  Good bagels.  Nice sandwiches made on the bagels.  Prices are reasonable.  

Service is lackluster / lacks enthusiasm, and not particularly attentive to what you order.  For example, on our most recent visit, I asked for swiss cheese and they put cheddar on my sandwich, and my wife asked for spinach and they put lettuce on hers.  As long as you're flexible and willing to eat whatever they give you, then that's fine.  If you're particular about what you eat, then you might want to watch while they make your sandwich to make sure they get it right.

They have a mini espresso bar there for some good coffee.  Otherwise, the drink selection is pretty lacking.  My opinion is biased there though because I'm a Coke addict, and like every other eating establishment on the Kitsap peninsula they have Pepsi.  Blech.  

In short - I don't object when my family wants to go to "the bagel place," because the food is good and I'm not picky about what they put on my sandwich.  I just don't go out of my way or make any special effort to go there.